1. Field
The disclosed and claimed concept relates generally to handheld electronic devices and, more particularly, to a handheld electronic device and camera that provide compensation for a flash in the processing of images, and an associated method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples of such handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal data assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellular telephones, and the like. Many handheld electronic devices also feature wireless communication capability, although many such handheld electronic devices are stand-alone devices that are functional without communication with other devices.
Some handheld electronic devices and other electronic devices employ small cameras which can take photographs that are then stored on the electronic device. Such cameras typically comprise a camera lens, a sensor, and a processor system that are manufactured and sold as a modular unit. That is, the sensor receives light through the camera lens and provides an image signal to an embedded program stored and executed on the processor system in order to process the image in various ways. For instance, the image might be processed to compensate for various shortcomings of the camera lens. Such shortcomings might include the reflective and diffractive aspects of the camera lens that become pronounced at the edges of the camera lens.
While such cameras have been generally effective for their intended purposes, such cameras have not come however, been without limitation. A camera typically has only a limited ability to detect light and often is of limited usefulness in low light conditions. Since a camera flash typically produces light of varying intensity and spectrum across a region of illumination, an embedded program executed on a processor system of a camera and employing compensation parameters tailored for use of a camera alone, i.e., without a flash, can produce unpredictable image processing results. Such unpredictable image processing results are further made unpredictable due to the wide variety of camera flash and flash lens configurations that are possible. It thus would be desirable to enable a modular camera, such as would be incorporated into a handheld electronic device, to be more usable in low light conditions.
Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the specification.